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Help the down-trodden with actions and prayers

by admin • March 12, 2014 • Comments Off on Help the down-trodden with actions and prayers

Hanna McCain

I am often reminded as I scroll through Facebook at how blessed my family and I are to have our health. Last year I had “liked” a “Praying for Malley Jane” page on Facebook. Most of these pages are created to keep everyone updated on the condition of the child or adult who is suffering from an illness.

Malley Jane was a sweet little newborn who had been born premature. I remember weeping at my desk when her parents posted that she had gone to be with the Lord. The news just broke my heart. The couple had tried for years to conceive and with many miscarriages she had finally had a child and the baby died.

My child was 1 year old at the time of Malley Jane’s death. I felt so grateful and blessed to have a healthy baby.

Here in Winston County we have many sick children. I can not even begin to imagine what those parents go through each and every day. Traveling back and forth to the hospital is not cheap and then on top of that, trying to work to make the money to pay bills.

“Liking” pages on Facebook is not enough to help families of sick children. Sure, this is a wonderful way of keeping informed on their conditions, but this is not enough.

I have not done enough to help local families of sick children. I am guilty of this, but I am changing. Call it what you will, but having a child of my own has made me realize just how fragile life is.

One moment you take your child in for a routine check up and the next moment the doctor is telling you that your child could possibly have leukemia. In only 2 minutes your life can change. Your priorities change, your worries change, and everything that ever meant anything to you changes in a matter of minutes.

Winston Countians, (I am speaking primarily to myself) it is time for us to take action. Do not ask the family what you can do for them because chances are they will reply with nothing. Ask yourself what you think you would need if you were in their shoes. I, as a parent, would need prayers first and for most. If I had another child along with the sick child, I would need a babysitter every now and again that would refuse payment. I would need someone to talk to and to tell me that everything was in God’s hands. This is just the tip of the iceberg of their needs that they would probably never voice.

By reading the Bible one learns many qualities of Jesus. Two really speak to me and they are the following: Jesus loved children and He had compassion towards the sick and hurting. I encourage you to read the scriptures because you too will see that Jesus genuinely loved people and He typically was seen with the sick and down trodden.

How can I apply this to my life today? How can I show those sick children in my community that even if I do not know them personally that I still love them? How can I reassure that child’s parents that their community can and will help them in any way possible? How can I be the “Jesus” to them in their time of need?

We are all blessed to dwell in this county of people who try everyday to help others. Let us continue to do so that others may see Jesus in us.

Editor’s note: Hanna McCain is an advertising consultant with the Winston County Journal, Choctaw Plaindealer and Webster Progress Times.

MS PRESS

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